1/30/15

It was a beautiful day today. I needed to drop off a package at the post office this morning. Today was supposed to be a swimming day, but with the weather so lovely, I decided to save swimming for wet weather. Instead, I took a walk in downtown Newberg after I dropped off my package. It was a good choice. Along the way I stopped in at a little deli (new to me) and got myself a sandwich to go for lunch. It was a nice way to spend the morning.

When I got home, I went to work finishing up the Yard Art blocks on my to-do list.

The associated palm trees take forever to cut. Then they take two times forever to top-stitch. All those ins and outs on the trunk and the fronds mean there's a deceptive amount of mileage around each one. I got them done, but not without nearly taking off the tip of my left index finger. I was removing one of the blocks from beneath the needle while simultaneously rotating my chair around to get up when my foot hit the foot pedal and brought down the needle. Another split second and I'd have sewn through my finger for the first time ever. Ouch. It hurt enough as it was, and I spent the rest of my sewing time applying pressure to avoid bleeding on my blocks as I finished stitching them. Note to self: Flamingos will bite.

That took up all of my time in the sewing room today, but I'm still making progress on the latest Vintage Tin block. I've stitched the entire center portion now. That is the area where the three pieces of Sticky Fabri-Solvy overlap, and I stitched those first to avoid slippage.

With that portion finished, I moved to the right hand side, and I'll stitch all of that before moving to the left. This one is going faster than expected. It appears complicated, but really, there isn't a lot to stitch in comparison to the next block. Let's just agree not to talk about that right now.

Right now I'm getting ready to move onto the project that gives me bonus points on my to-do list, the fourth block of Wind in the Whiskers.

The next one is called "The Local Branch". I'll just point out that if the cat in that image were Smitty, he'd be preparing to chow down on that chipmunk. (Tastes like chicken!)

But I've done enough sewing for today. Time to start thinking about dinner.

I'll admit to feeling a little guilty at having such lovely weather at the end of January when I know some of you back east are dealing with a mountain of snow and ice. Just know that I'm sending you warm and sunny thoughts while you dig out.

The Local Branch looks intimidating, but I suspect you will do a great job. I live in NJ and those warm and sunny thoughts have not made it here yet. It's 12 degrees out and the temperature is still falling. Big snowstorm expected Sunday night and Monday.

Years ago I was taking a class at a LQS (you would know which one!), when I looked up from my sewing when someone said something and, yup, sewed my finger. A very nice sales person drove me to emergency. The injection to numb the finger hurt the most! I still haven't lived down that incident. I'm much more careful now when sewing.

Sounds like my kind of start to the day. I love to meander around downtown (Salmon Arm has a really cute little downtown) and window shop. Then a visit to the coffee shop and home to some sewing. Perfect! I should make a date with myself to do that soon.

You always have such interesting projects going, Barbara. I've had some very close calls with a machine needle, myself. Sharing your weather here in SoCal, and praying for all our family out East. Thanks for sharing.